Galaxy improve to 1-1-0 at the Desert Diamond Cup, beat Salt Lake 2-0

TUCSON, Ariz. – The LA Galaxy improved to 1-1-0 at the Desert Diamond Cup with an impressive 2-0 win over Real Salt Lake on Saturday night in front of a capacity crowd at Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium. Paolo Cardozo and Mike Magee each scored inside the final 10 minutes as the Galaxy took advantage of Salt Lake being forced to play with just nine men for the final 13 minutes after starting midfielders Ned Grabavoy and Yordany Alvarez were each sent off.

Postgame Reaction: Arena, Buddle, Magee

Neither team was able to create much in the way of chances inside the game’s opening 30 minutes, with Salt Lake having the best of the bunch as Ned Grabavoy got in behind the LA defense. With two players awaiting a pass in the center of the box, the former Galaxy midfielder elected to shoot from a tight angle with Saunders kicking away the low shot and keeping the score tied at 0-0.

At the other end of the field, Edson Buddle, Hector Jimenez and Mike Magee all had chances for the Galaxy, but they were unable to put them on target and test RSL goalkeeper Nick Rimando, leaving the game scoreless heading into the halftime break.

Bruce Arena made just two changes at the half with Jack McBean coming on for Buddle, who leaves Sunday for Italy with the U.S. National Team and Nick Noble coming on in goal for Josh Saunders. Making his first appearance of the tournament, Noble was not challenged heavily in the opening 20 minutes of the half while McBean proved to be a constant menace to the Salt Lake defenders, helping to create a series of quality chances.

The game burst to life in the 66th minute when Bruce Arena sent on David Beckham and Marcelo Sarvas in place of the starting central midfield duo of Juninho and Kenney Walker. Four minutes after coming on, Sarvas was cut down by a sliding tackle from Ned Grabavoy. Referee Allen Chapman quickly pulled out an red card and tried to calm the situation on the field as players from both sides exchanged words after the tackle.

Full Match Highlights

Seven minutes later Chapman was forced to show a second red card, this time to Yordany Alvarez for his second yellow card of the night. That left RSL with the task of trying to keep the score level for the final 13 minutes while playing with just nine men.

Just minutes after the second red card, the Galaxy finally got on the scoreboard when Paolo Cardozo’s speculative long range shot squirted through the hands of Nick Rimando and into the net for a 1-0 LA lead.

Mike Magee rounded out the scoring six minutes later, getting on the end of a pinpoint David Beckham cross and beating Rimando with a right footed shot from the center of the box to make the score 2-0 LA. That goal was Magee’s second of the tournament, leaving him tied with New England’s Kelyn Rowe as the top goal scorer in Tucson.

The Galaxy are back in action at 7 p.m. (PT) on Wednesday night when they take on the New York Red Bulls, who are 0-2-0 so far at the Desert Diamond Cup compared to 1-1-0 for the Galaxy. That game can be seen live online at www.lagalaxy.com/gamedaylive where fans will be able to chat and interact with one another during the game.